Just got back from down under and had a fabulous time. I want to thank anyone who blogged here to give me ideas and what to expect. The advice was pretty much right on.
For your information, the Great Barrier Reef is having terrible weather right now. We booked a liveaboard on the Reef Encounter and the winds were 30 knots. I now know how salmon feel as they are swimming upstream to spawn! It was tough going but the crew was great and I made some pretty decent friends in a very short time. I do recommend this group.
Also, if you are unsure about staying in Cairns or Palm Cove or Port Douglas, it really depends on what you plan to do while there. If you are planning a lot of excursions, stay in Cairns or Palm Cove. Trust me on this one, the hour drive and the $21US one way is just not worth staying in PD unless you really want to. Don't get me wrong, PD is lovely and all, but you can get the same ambience in Palm Cove and you are only about a 10 minute drive to Cairns for the activities.
We stayed in The Archipelago Apts on Macrossan St. in PD. The apt was nice and very convenient to the downtown area. There is no lift and there are many stairs so if you have a lot of luggage or mobility issues, this just isn't the place for you.
I do recommend that if you stay in PD, try Zinc or La Cuchina Restaurant for dinner. They are both great and we had some very memorable dinners there. The Courthouse Pub is a happenin' place most of the time too.
If you need an internet connection, go to Wicked and have a gelato as you surf the net.
Again, OZ is great. I now need to think about going again to catch the things I missed. Like Ayers Rock, Perth and Darwin.
Stayed in Melbourne and it was a great city.
Sydney is the bomb! If you go to Sydney, stay in Darling Harbor, take the monorail around the area to get a feel for the harbor. Buy a daytripper for around $14 US and go to Manly Beach and walk around and have lunch, or people watch.
If you are in the Rocks, definitely do the market on Saturday, well worth the time. And if you have any inclination (no pun intended) to climb the bridge, do it! I didn't and I am sorry I didn't take the time.
G'day mates! Love OZ
Susan

Susan, everything you mentioned is so true. For someone wanting to visit a lot of attractions, then its worth staying closer Cairns, as for people wanting to get away from the hustle & bustle of Cairns, then up to Port Douglas.
As for Sydney, I keep mentioning the daytripper ticket on this website, its well worth the cost. Before I left Sydney 2 years ago, for sunny Queensland, my wife & I would often get a daytripper ticket from our local railway station, get off close to the Quay, then catch AS MANY FERRIES as we could in one day, not necessarily getting off the ferries, but coming back to the Quay to get a different ferry. (Somewhere on our trip, like Watsons Bay, we would get off & have lunch). At the end of the day, we caught the ferry going up the Parramatta River, getting off at West Ryde, and our Daytripper ticket, then took us on the bus to West Ryde Station, where again our ticket took us up to Beecroft Station, to pick up our car.

Hi - just loved your report. May I say one thing though about the day tripper. If you are going to be in Sydney for more than a day and are wanting to whizz around, then you are much better off getting a commuter weekly ticket.

Oh dear, you poor thing, 30knots on a liveaboard. I do feel for you, that's the sort of wind you'd normally expect in July/Aug in FNQ. But you seemed to have made the best of your Reef Encounter trip anyway, so good on you. Its got to be the best value liveaboard in the area out of either Cairns or Port Douglas. For those who don't know, its out of Cairns.

Troppo, as you know, Cairns is a regional small Queensland city, only about the 5th largest in the state, with a significant amount of population who have nothing to do with tourism. Coming from Sydney I couldn't say at any stretch it has "hustle and bustle", and locals will whinge if they have to wait 2 minutes at a traffic "jam". Or get really pissed off if they can't park directly in front of where they want to eat or shop. In fact the most northerly traffic light on east coast Australia is at Clifton Beach, a suburb of Cairns, just south of Palm Cove. Cairns has huge choice of restaurants for a town of its size, and my friends who live in Port Douglas would prefer to dine in Cairns for variety and better prices. Its a gateway to reef and rainforest, Tablelands etc, and whilst its not as close to Daintree as Port Douglas, there's many other World Heritage rainforest areas close by which are way off the beaten tourist track.

Pat, fuzzy and tropo, you are three of the ones that really helped me in my decision-making for my trip. Thanks is not nearly enough for all of the help you gave me.
The best part of Australia was staying with our friends in Melbourne. It was a real treat to just hang out with a family for a week and do what they do. I don't think I would ever tire of looking out the window and seeing kangaroos in the front yard! I must confess I like watching deer out of mine here in the US.
A word of advice to anyone who is planning a first time trip to OZ, pick an area, like the east coast or the west coast and do that. There is no way to see all of it in a two week trip. In fact, it isn't really realistic to try to do too much of any one area. You won't do them justice and you will spend your time running about and exhausting yourself. We went to Melbourne for five days (visiting with the friends), three days in Sydney, and five days in Port Douglas.
We had originally thought we would sneak in a trip to Alice Springs. That would have been nuts! If you plan to do Alice, you need to spend at least three days there.
What a beautiful, friendly country Australia is. I feel like I have family there now and can't wait until I can go back and re-do the GBR, see Alice Springs (Ayers), Perth, Darwin........so many places to see and things to do.
Suzie

Best food we enjoyed Down Under was in Cairns at Phoebe's fabulous Garden Room nearby the wonderful B&B Lilybank w/ splendid brekkie.

Also enjoyed Red Earth, enormous seafood combos at the tiem $55 for 2 ( which could have served 4)

Andrewdavid

AndrewD, menu at Garden Room is just getting better and better. When you were here, it had just opened, and its taken a couple of years for locals to cotton on to just how good food is, now they come from far and wide. Phoebe is still a delight, she makes everyone feel so welcome, without being "in your face".

Red Ochre, in Cairns city, is always reliable for good food with an Australian bush touch, many have tried to emulate it but without much success.

Pat, I'm glad to hear that Phoebe is thriving please send her my best the next time you see her

We had a great visit with john-j in NM and are looking forward to meeting Neil and Robyn here in September

best to you and Mike

Andrewdavid

Agree about Garden Room - was the best meal of the 10 days in the teropics!

Margo. I'm glad our dining out taste is still in congruence. I have fond memories of our meal on the esplanade to the opera house

cheers
AndrewDavid